I didn’t expect Freshman Seminar to be such an informal class. I thought was quite nice since it made the atmosphere more friendly. I also didn’t expect there to be homework. Hm. But overall, it really was a nice experience , especially being able to get good guidance from your advisor and your peer mentor every week. It really helped iron out all the mess leading up to creating schedules and tell you what you need to do to survive in college. Thanks Ms. Lancia and Namit! 😀

Baruch so far has been what I expected of commuter college. Well, I actually didn’t know much about how college worked so I didn’t really expect much at all besides the fact that it’s school. I was told numerous times in my high school that college life is way more relaxed and easier unless you go to an Ivy League (or an equivalent). I wish I could say that was true, but I’m not too sure. The workload somehow adds up to be the same, even though I have less classes. I think it’s really just me with time management problems, so meh. The school itself is nice and inviting, so it’s a positive experience so far (Escalators and roomy elevators ftw!).

In all honesty, the leadership workshop wasn’t the awe-inspiring moment in my life where I finally realized that I should go out in the world and make a change right that instant, but I guess it did have its benefits at least. I’ve heard several presentations like this before, so it was somewhat of a generic motivator. I’m not too sure if I fully agree with what everything the professor described leadership as, but I do agree it’s important to have at least some leadership skills. It is necessary to know how to lead at times when people around you need one. So um, I actually took down notes during the presentation so:

• Talked about the cruise turn-over (bad leadership) and the hudson river airplane landing (good leadership)
• The building of the Brooklyn Bridge: Was the first suspension bridge
• John and Washington/Emily Roebling: died before it was finished
• Did something no else would have attempted even if no one thought it was possible=leaders
• Abraham Lincoln
• Goal: Wanted the country to stay together
• He put his president candidate rivals on his cabinet-only president to do this
• Wanted the best and the brightest
• He claimed the moment to be a leader when he realized that slavery is the problem of his generation
• Asked questions with other people:
• What makes a leader one? Can anyone be one?
• What kind of leadership roles in Baruch?
• Went to session with a intro and questioning of Baruch students and super-seniors who has some leadership quality/role to them
• Told us:
• Time management is important. Only way to balance leadership roles and academia. Should always put academics first b/c you are first and foremost a student.
• Join clubs to make long-lasting friends and network connections for internships and job-opportunities and leadership opportunities.
• Because your “freshman friends as your current clusters aren’t real friends”….since you won’t be seeing them much ever again….
• Residential Assistant…one of the jobs they were talking about. A lot of fraternities’ positions.
• Get involved in student life to make the most of Baruch and to put yourself ahead of others.

I found it interesting that there were so many super seniors still in Baruch. Are they just graduate students or are they real “super seniors”? I do agree that joining clubs really do help you in the long run to make friends, since I have experienced that in high school. It is sad that because Baruch is so big and the way classes are organized in college, it’s really hard to make long-lasting friends, so clubs really are the way to go.

And then there’s time management.

…let’s not get into that, eheheh…

Soo, student life. I’m not quite sure what exactly is “student life” even to this day, but I’m guessing whatever it is, it means more extracurricular activities pertaining to school. I would agree it would be a good thing to do, both for social/mental reasons and humanitarian reasons (…and resume reasons  //SHOT). It also reminded me that I should really get a job. Oh, the pains of growing up.

I was planning to do pictures first, but I already spent 3 hours looking for song translations and lyrics.

…Songs it is.

Introduction (I guess?): Hopefully I didn’t interpret the songs too differently 😛 All of the Japanese songs (I don’t know Japanese, but I will…one day) except for one (#5) are sung by VOCALOIDs. VOCALOID is a singing voice synthesizer; basically it’s a computer program where you can use the voice bank installed in it to create the vocals for your song. Meaning, it’s sung by a synthesized voice, not a (real) person. Since I am a terrible explainer, Wikipedia if it’s needed-> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocaloid Be forewarned, not everyone likes Vocaloid because of the metallic-like vocals; some find it to be even unbearably annoying. It technically depends on the Vocaloid since they all sound different (some are more realistic, some are more “metallic”), but it ultimately depends on the listener.

English Songs:

1)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mC1_MnEHjU “The Golden Age” -Woodkid             It’s about children growing up from their “golden age” to become adults and how we have to take responsibility of everything now instead of being able to be naïve and ignorant of the world around us. It’s the stage of life we’re going through I guess.

2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWcyIpul8OE “Holocene”- Bon Iver                                   I am not too sure what the song means, but I think it’s about realizing how insignificant we are as compared to the whole universe. Just have to accept that fact.

3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qF_qbaWt3Q “Waiting for the End” – Linkin Park “The hardest part of ending is starting again.” Everything ends and begins in life and it’s hard to move on. I agree with the song.

Japanese Songs:

4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZOPlZTAPDs “しんでしまうとはなさけない！” – Jesus-P (Wonderful☆Opportunity) ft. 鏡音リン ・レン (“Death Should Not Have Taken Thee!” – Jesus-P ft. Kagamine Rin & Len)                                                                                                        I know, weirdest song title ever. But it’s the most awesome and funniest vocaloid jrpg-themed song. Ever. JRPGs ftw 🙂

5) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa0zvkyQoPQ “empty” – kz (livetune) ft. やなぎな ぎ (yanaginagi)                                                                                                                                                                 Sort of the same meaning as “Waiting for the End.” Stop dreaming and living in sorrow of your past mistakes to greet the new dawn. I agree, again.

6) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccx8ZqTWCoY “clock lock works” – ハチ (Hachi) ft. 初音ミク (Hatsune Miku)                                                                                                                                 People grow up to work blindly to make money, ignoring what they truly want to do in life by locking it away(?) I can relate to that :/

7) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G85GUfuJTg4 “積乱雲グラフィティ (Sekiranun Graffiti)” – ryo (supercell) ft. 初音ミク (Hatsune Miku)                                                                                Reminiscing the happy times and little things in life as you grow much older and always having the feelings stay in your heart. I would like to grow older like that. lyrics: http://www.animelyrics.com/doujin/vocaloid/sekiranun.htm

8) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g4hO8WjvlE “parades” – whoo ft. 初音ミク Append DARK (Hatsune Miku Append DARK)                                                                                                                 The song is vague and open to interpretation, but I think it can be about getting through a hard problem in life after losing your path and how looking back it wasn’t that much of a big deal after all. It happens with all those tests we take 😛

9) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4avTLP3zXVA “Sky of Beginning” – じん  (Jin) ft. 初音ミク (Hatsune Miku)                                                                                        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZUjqVbU1uQ  “LIVEDRIVE” – じん  (Jin) ft. IA                                                                                                                                                                                                   I couldn’t decide so I used two as one~ They basically mean the same thing–go after your ambitions and dreams, no matter how crazy and what others think. “Sky of Beginning” has a more childish/innocent/cute tone while “LIVEDRIVE” has a more bold/hard-beat/serious tone. Lyrics for “LIVEDRIVE”: http://mojim.com/usy111619x3x2.htm

10) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT2wVgoBH28 “現実的論理主義者 (A Realistic Logical Ideologist)” – ゴボウメン (Goboumen) ft. IA                                                                                   I think it’s criticizing in the point of view of a realist of how we have to conform to society and especially how optimists and pessimists view life. I know I’m definitely not a realist, but I should be so I can make more obtainable goals.

finito! that was really long OTL